Salon.com > Moody's

Apple selling record amount in bonds

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:04:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple Inc. is selling $17 billion in bonds on Tuesday, according to a published report. That would make it the largest corporate bond issue ever.

Apple is selling the bonds in its first debt issue since the 1990s. The company is raising the money to give to shareholders through dividend payments and stock buybacks.

The company has $145 billion in cash, more than enough for the $100 billion cash return program it announced last week. However, most of its money sits in overseas accounts, and the company doesn't plan to bring it to the U.S. until the federal corporate tax rate is lowered.

U.S. plans to sue S&P over mortgage ratings

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:21:00 +0000

The Justice Department, along with a number of state prosecutors, plans to pursue charges against ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) over what they say were the faulty ratings of mortgage bonds leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The New York Times cited "people briefed on the plan" as sources for news of the civil suit. Via the Times:

Up until last last week, the Justice Department had been in settlement talks with S.&P., these people said. But the negotiations broke down after the Justice Department said it would seek a settlement in excess of “10 figures,” or at least $1 billion, these people said, which would wipe out the profits of S.&P.’s parent, the McGraw-Hill Company, for an entire year.

Will Sandy affect tomorrow’s jobs report?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:44:00 +0000

This Friday is jobs day and the November numbers–payroll gains, the unemployment rate–will provide one of the first looks at the negative impact of late October’s hurricane Sandy on a major indicator.

Today’s ADP report provides a preliminary glance. The payroll firm reported 118,000 jobs created in the private sector last month, down from 158,000 in October.

Moody’s.com guesstimated that Sandy led to 86,000 fewer jobs in November. Since the ADP reports job gains by firm size, one indicator of Sandy’s impact can be seen in the sharper deceleration last month of job growth at smaller firms, which are more likely to be shut down by the storm than larger firms.

The BLS payroll survey–the official employment metric out Friday–asks employers to report their payrolls as of the middle of the month. The fact that many businesses were closed due to the damage from the storm is expected to lower jobs numbers for November and possibly later months as well. From the Bureau:

Moody’s strips France of AAA credit rating

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:51:00 +0000

PARIS (AP) — France's government has shrugged off the latest downgrade of its credit rating, saying Tuesday that it just needs time for reforms to the sluggish economy to take root.

In a setback for President Francois Hollande's Socialist administration, Moody's Investors Service stripped Europe's No. 2 economy of it of its prized AAA credit rating late Monday on concerns that its rigid labor market and exposure to Europe's financial crisis were threatening its prospects for economic growth.

This is the second ratings downgrade to have hit France this year: Standard & Poor's agency lowered its score in January. The third leading agency, Fitch, still ranks France at AAA-rating but warned it could still be downgraded.

Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici insisted that France's credibility remains strong and that the government's plan to reduce unemployment and restore growth would bear fruit.

France has come under scrutiny as its €2 trillion ($2.5 trillion) economy has stagnated, with many leading French companies laying off workers. Meanwhile, Hollande has struggled to reassure economists that his attempts to revive the French economy will be successful.

2.5 million jobless adults living with their parents

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:26:00 +0000

As the New York Times' Economix blog reported Monday, despite signs of an improving economy, "the bundled-household phenomenon remains large." That is, a large number of adult children have moved back into their parents' house, unable to support independent households. The Times revealed new data from Moody's Analytics:

There are about 17.2 million adult children living in their parents’ homes this year, compared with around 15.3 million in 2007, the year the recession began ... And the numbers show that the greatest increases are accounted for by unemployed adult children who have moved in with parents. In 2007, 1.3 million unemployed adult children were living in their parents’ homes. This year, the total is about 2.5 million.